Persuasive Essay On Syrian Refugees

Since 2011, Syria has been embattled by a vicious civil war that has cost hundreds of thousands of lives and displaced millions of people. The war has created a global refugee crisis and countries around the world are being asked to help countries such as Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan who have become overwhelmed by huge numbers of refugees seeking safety in their country. One country that is being asked to help by increasing their number of refugees is Canada. Canada has indeed made a positive contribution on the crisis by welcoming over 25,000 Syrian refugees from November 2015 to March 2016 while the United States has only accepted 3,000 since 2011 (Pascrell). Despite undoubtedly already contributing, should Canada open up its borders and allow higher rates of

Canada should help these countries by following Germany and Sweden’s lead by committing to helping find a solution in ending the worst refugee crisis “since the end of the Second World War” (Gilmore). Sweden and Germany are viewed as two European nations with the most generous asylum policies. Since the beginning of the refugee crisis, Germany has, in all senses had an “open border” (Dahl p.8). This is illustrated by the fact that Germany welcomed over 800,000 refugees in 2015 alone, well above any other European nation (Gilmore). Sweden, a country with a population of only 10 million, accepted in between 1,500-2,000 asylum seekers day in 2015 but has had to decrease that number due to lack of housing and social unrest (Dahl p.2). In comparison to Germany and Sweden, Canada’s acceptance of just over 55,000 Syrian refugees since November 2015 fails in comparison (Allwright). In order to alleviate pressure that countries such as Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Sweden and Germany currently face due to extremely high numbers of refugees Canada should increase